Miriam Makeba: South African singer and civil rights activist (The Queen Of African Music)

Today would have been the 81st birthday of Miriam Makeba, who dedicated her life to music and civil rights activism. 

Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award-winning South African singer and civil rights activist.

She actively campaigned against the South African system of apartheid. As a result, she discovered that her South African passport had been revoked in 1960 and the South African government revoked her citizenship and right of return in 1963. As the apartheid system crumbled she returned home for the first time in 1990.

Makeba used music to speak out about apartheid throughout her life. In 2005 she began a worldwide tour, aiming to play in all the countries she had visited during a life of activism.

Thank you Miriam Makeba.